COOKIES ON

THIS SITE

We use cookies for the purposes of statistical analysis, improving the friendliness and usability of our website, tailoring content to your interests and engaging with social media. By visiting our website, you consent to our and third party use of cookies as described in our privacy and cookie policy.

Last-Lap Pass Clinches Road Atlanta Win for Antinucci, Piscopo

BRASELTON, Ga. (Oct. 1, 2015) - It took a last-lap pass two turns from the checkered flag for Richard Antinucci and Edoardo Piscopo to earn their fourth win of the season in Round 9 of the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo North America on Thursday, Oct. 1 at Road Atlanta.

In a caution-shortened race, Antinucci made the precision pass in the No. 50 O'Gara Motorsport Huracán representing Lamborghini Beverly Hills to win by .426 of a second over Enrique Bernoldi in the No. 1 Prestige Performance entry representing Lamborghini Paramus.

"Richie's move, that was great," Piscopo said. "He was not even close, and he braked as late as possible. He was on the limit in that corner, but fair move. It was fair play from both of them. Great drive."

Dylan Murcott clinched the Gallardo Championship with his sixth win of the season in the No. 84 Mitchum Motorsports Gallardo LP 570-4. His win also cemented Mitchum Motorsports as Gallardo team champions. It is the second consecutive team championship for Mitchum.

Pro-Am driver Corey Lewis rounded out the top five in the No. 29 Change Racing entry representing Lamborghini Carolinas. He was also the top Pro-Am finisher.

Piscopo led the field from pole through the first five turns of the 2.54-mile, 12-turn circuit. The first caution of the race was triggered when the No. 69 of Tom O'Gara made heavy contact with the wall in Turn 5.

The race was red-flagged for extensive cleanup on the course. O'Gara was admitted to a local hospital for further observation due to back pain. He was awake and alert.

Piscopo once again led the field on the restart, with only 24 minutes left in the race. Bernoldi and Madison Snow, who had both gained a position at the start of the race, followed him.

The mandatory pit window immediately opened after the green flag restarted the race. After the cars filtered through, Snow led the field, followed by Antinucci and Bernoldi.

A second caution was triggered when the No. 11 driven by Will James went off course in Turn 4. The field packed up for the restart with five minutes to go.

Once the race resumed, the top three stayed within a half of a second of each other.

Antinucci fought with Snow at every turn. He closed at the entrance of the turn, and Snow accelerated after each corner to give himself some breathing room.

On the last lap, Antinucci still searched for an open window. He found it.

At the entrance of Turn 10, Antinucci braked as late as possible and threaded the needle to take the inside and make the pass for the lead and the win.

"Snow was really quick, especially on the restarts and cold tires," Antinucci said. "We were planning more of a longevity setup, but I was able to take advantage of the opportunity at the end and get the win for Tom (O'Gara). It was entirely for Tom."

Kevin Conway was second in the Huracán Pro-Am division in the No. 10 Prestige Performance entry representing Lamborghini Paramus. Conway, the reigning driver champion, had been co-driving with Bernoldi until the last two rounds at Circuit of the Americas in September.

James Sofronas and Jeffrey Cheng rebounded from a qualifying incident to round out the Pro-Am podium with a third-place finish in the No. 88 GMG Huracán representing Lamborghini Newport Beach.

Damon Ockey was the first Huracán Amateur finisher and earned his second victory of the season in the No. 09 O'Gara Motorsport entry representing Lamborghini Calgary. He had previously won Round 5 in late August at VIRginia International Raceway.

The father-and-son duo of Jim and Josh Norman finished second in the Amateur category in the No. 71 BAD Lambo Racing entry representing Lamborghini Palm Beach.

The newly formed duo of Todd Snyder and Mat Pombo finished second overall in the Gallardo class in the No. 42 Mitchum Motorsports entry. Josh Hurley finished third after a drive-through penalty dropped him from the lead. He was driving solo in the No. 76 Musante-Courtney Racing entry representing Lamborghini Miami for the first time after co-driving with Peter Argetsinger at COTA.

Mitchum Motorsports landed two more drivers on the podium as Bryan Hixon finished first in the Gallardo Amateur class in the No. 23 entry representing Lamborghini Chicago and Brandon Gdovic finished second in the No. 46 Lamborghini Palm Beach Gallardo.

Joe Chan and Paul Taylor rounded out the podium, finishing third in the No. 15 Paragon Competition representing Lamborghini Toronto.

A 60-minute show with highlights from both rounds will be televised from 9-10 p.m. (ET) Wednesday, Oct. 28 on CBS Sports Network.

World-class hospitality for competitors and guests also is an important part of the event experience in the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo. Guests from various Lamborghini dealerships are entertained at the Lamborghini and Blancpain Village, where gourmet food and drinks are provided in an elegant atmosphere worthy of the Lamborghini and Blancpain brand and lifestyle.

ROUND 9 POST-RACE QUOTES

RICHARD ANTINUCCI (No. 50 Lamborghini Beverly Hills, winner): "First of all, our thoughts are with Tom (O'Gara)." (About the final laps): "It's a bonus. I came out second. I messed up the pit exit a little bit. (Madison) Snow was really quick, especially on the restarts and cold tires. We were planning more of a longevity setup, but I was able to take advantage of the opportunity and get the win for Tom. It was entirely for Tom."

EDOARDO PISCOPO (No. 50 Lamborghini Beverly Hills, winner): (About watching Richard Antinucci's winning move from the pit wall): "We immediately exploded. I wasn't expecting it. The lapped guy helped us, but Richie's move, that was great. He was not even close, and he braked as late as possible. He was on the limit in that corner, but fair move. It was fair play from both of them. Great drive. We were faster."

ENRIQUE BERNOLDI (No. 1 Lamborghini Paramus, second): "It was good racing. That's how racing should be. Congratulations to (Richard) Antinucci. It was a good maneuver. It is what it is. That's racing. That's how it's supposed to be."

JUSTIN MARKS (No. 99 Lamborghini Carolinas, third): "One of the advantages that people without teammates have is that sometimes our competitors have slower first-stint drivers, and we get to pull a gap on them. When the race runs this short, that advantage goes away, so you have to go as hard as you can go. We pitted late just to get some clean air and fast laps, and then there was an awesome battle for the win between (Richard) Antinucci and Madison Snow. I was in a position where I could stay with them but couldn't really catch them. So I started to anticipate what move Richie was going to make and trying to see how I could take advantage of it. I knew that Richie's strength was in braking at the end of the straightaway. Madison defended it, and they both went wide and killed momentum of the top-three guys and that put me in a good position to take advantage. It was a pretty risky move to stick it under Madison there at the stripe, but I knew he was aware and looking in his mirrors and knew I was there. These guys worked really hard this week, and they deserve a move like that to get them on podium."

COREY LEWIS (No. 29 Lamborghini Carolinas, first Pro-Am): "First and foremost, I want to make sure Tom O'Gara is OK. So my prayers out to him, hopefully a speedy recovery. The red flag mixed things up for us. We didn't really know how it was going to play out. We had the pace to keep up toward the front. I just had to keep my head down and not focus on anything else. I went out and just had fun with it. The Change Racing guys set the car up perfectly. It was better than it had been all weekend long. Huge thank you to Change Racing, Lamborghini Carolinas and Monster Energy drink. My teammate, Justin Marks, has been a huge help throughout the weekend. We're closing in on this championship. I think we have one point until we can really lock it down. Tomorrow's another day."

KEVIN CONWAY (No. 10 Lamborghini Paramus, second Pro-Am): "It was certainly a crazy race. First and foremost, we're thinking about Tom (O'Gara) and wishing him the best. It was a fight for the whole Prestige Performance team. We were struggling with the balance of the car all weekend, and we were still struggling a bit. But we learned a lot in this race that we can take into Race 2. I'm just proud of everybody at Prestige Performance and Lamborghini Paramus. I'm thankful for the opportunity to be here." (Are you getting ready for rain?): "Yeah, we're ready for the rain. We actually did the test day in the rain, the first time driving the Huracán, and the Pirelli rain tires had a lot of grip and the Huracán was awesome in the rain. So I'm all for the rain."

JEFFREY CHENG (No. 88 Lamborghini Newport Beach, third Pro-Am): "First of all. we all hope Tom (O'Gara) is OK. For us, it was an OK race. We managed to get a podium. I think that a little bit of luck was involved with that. We just kept our nose clean, and I drove the first session, which was a little bit shorter. James (Sofronas) drove the second stint, and we just stayed out of trouble and managed to keep the car out of trouble and come home in third place."

JAMES SOFRONAS (No. 88 Lamborghini Newport Beach, third Pro-Am): "My performance isn't as important as the team performance. With help of Jeffrey Cheng, my co-driver and car owner, we were able to salvage a podium. It was about survival and picking your battles. At the end I could have fought for second, but second place was getting a little defensive and it was about conserving the car. This series is flat out every time. The GMG crew did a great job. I'm really proud of those guys. And Jeffrey did his usual smart, conservative run to keep it in contention, and there's nothing wrong with a podium, so I'll take it for today and go out there again tomorrow."

DAMON OCKEY (No. 09 Lamborghini Calgary, first Amateur): "It was a little difficult to race like that, when you're stopping so much. But I started in P2 and got behind my brother (Ryan Ockey), and he was having some difficulty because of the crash he had in qualifying. So I was being held up, came into the pits a little earlier than him, and when I came out, I tried to put down a couple of fast laps while he was in the pits, and I was able to pass him without any battle, just through the pit. Great race. The team had a perfect car for me, great setup. A fun, fun race."

JIM NORMAN (No. 71 Lamborghini Palm Beach, second Amateur): "It was a really great learning race for us. I've been here multiple times before; Josh (Norman) has not. His first time in the car ever here was in qualifying and this morning. He's learned the track very well. He did amazingly well in the race. He had, by far, the fastest times in our group, and we're pleased with second place. I think another lap or two we would have another win, but overall a great race for us."

JOSH NORMAN (No. 71 Lamborghini Palm Beach, second Amateur): "For the first time at the track, I can't be mad about getting second. But it's always disappointing getting second when you have the first place right in front of you. We did what we could, and I learned a lot from this race. I'm looking forward to tomorrow so I can hopefully redeem myself and not make anymore stupid mistakes."

RYAN OCKEY(No. 89 Lamborghini Vancouver, third Amateur): "After qualifying, putting my car into the wall, I didn't think I was going to race. My team did an awesome, fantastic job of getting the car ready. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite set up as well as it was for qualifying. So we weren't able to be as quick as we were in qualifying. But I got to race, which was fantastic, and my team deserves all the kudos for that. It was awesome. Just hanging on. They didn't get a chance to put it on the scale, and the back left wheel was a little off, I think. I didn't quite have the speed. But it was fun racing, and I did get to race, which was the important thing. And my team was incredible about getting the car fixed."

DYLAN MURCOTT (No. 84 Lamborghini, first Gallardo): "It was a crazy race. There was a big crash, and I hope he's OK. But the race was just wild. I was able to get around some people after some pit road penalties and hold them off after the caution. It feels good to wrap up the championship early."